Sri Lankan Malays

The Sri Lankan Malays are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka. The Malays are descended from the Malay mercantile seafarers of the 13th century, and a second wave of Malays would arrive on the island during the existence of Dutch Ceylon and the Dutch East Indies, as Malay soldiers in the Royal Dutch Army were stationed on the island. The Sunni Muslim Malays made up 1.3% of the population in 1836, and they grew to have a population of 40,189 in 2012.